John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Will the very creative, innovative and talented minister please update the House on what the government is doing to promote Australia's creative and innovative talent overseas?

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the outstanding member for Bennelong for his question—

Government Member:

A government member interjecting—

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The handsome and outstanding member for Bennelong! I can say that. The Australian government is placing our creative and innovative talent and industries at the heart of our international engagement by promoting Australian talent, Australian people, Australian businesses overseas through our diplomatic posts. Our greatest natural asset is our people. Australians are highly regarded as creative, dynamic thinkers and innovative people. The Global Creativity Index at the University of Toronto ranked Australia No. 1 in terms of the most creative nation on earth. What we want to see is Australian companies gain access to overseas supply chains and networks and new forms of financing so that they can scale their operations from local to global.

Recently I addressed an audience in New York of investors, CEOs, hedge fund managers and financiers as part of Australia's premier public diplomacy and economic diplomacy effort 'G'day USA'. I highlighted a range of Australian start-ups and companies that are breaking new ground. The track record in innovation is outstanding. I used examples such as Google Maps, based on mapping technology built on Where 2, a company from Sydney. The first commercial drone delivery on US soil approved by the FAA was undertaken by Australian start-up Flirtey. I talked about Australian talent, Australian business and opportunities for greater Australian investment in New York, Washington and LA, promoting not only our engineers and our technicians but our musicians, designers, producers, publishers, architects, actors, directors and more.

A report by Enterprise Connect, which is a department of industry entity, shows that Australia's overall creative economy through direct and indirect contributions delivers over $90 billion to the Australian economy annually, exceeding such industries as—I must say this, Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources—agriculture. But I do have a good example in that regard of where new thinking is transforming old industries. Colleagues might be interested in an Aussie start-up called Flow Hive, which has made harvesting of honey from a beehive as simple as turning on a tap on the beehive and collecting the honey as it pours out. The father-and-son team put this idea on the crowdfunding website Indiegogo and they hit their funding target within three minutes. They are now receiving $30,000 worth of orders per day and this has been called the greatest step forward for beekeeping in 150 years. This is Australian innovation taking on the world. (Time expired)